FIT FAVORITES - pURE BARRE

THE WORKOUT

Holy Lift. Tone. Burn. Pure Barre is such an incredible workout. And before you think it's only for ballerinas, it's not. I mean there's a barre, and the whole " heels together, toes apart" thing. But we're not all wearing tutu's and leotards. (But we totally should, because who doesn't love a tutu?) Enter the studio filled with loud pumping music - it wakes you up REAL QUICK when you roll out of bed and into a 6am class! Weights, ball, band - that's all you need! Oh, and sticky socks. You'll need those, too.

Enter the enthusiastic, ready-to-kick-your-ass-tic instructor. We move through the warm up of ab exercises, tricep dips, and a 90-second plank. Whew. Already sweating.

ARMS

The arm workout is my FAVORITE part. So I've always been a little self conscious of my arms, so I'm forever doing tricep presses, and sporting the skinny arm pose in photos. I know it's not like super "in" anymore, but I don't care. Not sorry. Though we're only using 2 and 3 pound weights, I'm #dying by the end.

THIGHS & SEAT

Heels together, toes apart, tiny down, tiny up. I'm sweating, I'm shaking. I forget to breath and luckily the instructor reminds me to do that, because, you know, breathing is good. The thighs section targets your inner and outer thighs - sometimes both at the same time. Cruel. You tuck through a series of 3 thigh exercises before FINALLY going into a much deserved stretch. The seat section of class focuses on the area right below your butt and your hamstrings. It's designed to lift your tush and tighten the back of your legs. Let's just say I'm only a few classes away from having the backside of a Kardashian...

ABS

Abs! My abs! My abs are on fire! The Pure Barre ab workout is broken up into two parts - slow abs & fast abs. Slow abs are designed to target the deepest level of your core. (The 6 pack that's hiding behind your six pack..er, bottomless brunch mimosas.) Fast abs targets your abs and obliques by working from your lowest point. If you haven't taken a Pure Barre class before, the exercises in this section are a bit more traditional, but with a tuck. If you're lazy, you can totally squeak by the slow abs part because it doesn't look like much movement even though it is. But don't do that. You're only cheating yourself. And since you, and by "you" I mean "I", already cheated on my diet it's probably not the best idea. #HairFlipEmoji #LifeIsShortEatTheCupcake

BACK-DANCING

Ok, so I may have stretched the truth before when I said that arms were my favorite part of the Pure Barre workout. I forgot about my real favorite - THE END. Just kidding! Sort of. For the last section of class, the lights are completely off, there's killer music that makes you feel like a total boss. It's the last 2 minute push and the last chance to LTB (lift, tone, burn)! You're lying on your back, sometimes with your feet flat, or on your toes in your highest pair of stilettos - it just depends. And you're tucking to the beat of the music - left, right, center. Tuck center hold. Heels up, heels down. And the whole backside of your seat and inner thighs are burning, but like, it feels good. But also hurts. And it kinda looks like you're doing it...but who cares. No one can see you. Once that's over you stretch it all out, inhale, exhale, inhale again taking the deepest breath of the day, exhale and you're done!

Pure Barre requires a lot of mind body focus. To get the most out of your 55 minutes, you have to be intentional about your moves, think about what you're doing and focus what your goals are for the body part you're working. This leaves little room for you to think about work, emails, or anything else that might creep into your mind. It's such a challenging workout - mentally and physically. Plus, there's nothing like finishing a morning class and realizing that you've accomplished something before the sun came up. I'm not a morning person, so that's rare. It has to be good if it gets me out of bed that early!

I challenge you to take a class and see for yourself! Maybe I'll see you there!